Monday, November 12, 2012

Collage and the Two Drunk Guys Behind Me



There are times when I have to travel for business. One of my duties as a marketing manager is to oversee trade show appearances and corporate meetings. I love the challenge of making sure that all the details are covered and the joy of building the perfect spreadsheet. (I know, geeky and strange for someone who enjoys getting her hands dirty with paint and glue, but there is real joy in planning everything out in a spreadsheet).

But, I start to get antsy when I can't play with my glue and paint. So I usually travel with a few little art bits to play with. I bring my journal with me, a glue stick, a black, felt tip pen and usually a fashion magazine. Fashion magazines have a lot of interesting backgrounds and headlines.

I page through looking for stuff that grabs my attention. Then I spend time looking for words that fit my mood or the photos that I have found. Then I start gluing. This trip, there was a store for kids in the airport and I bought a package of "colors." It really didn't work the way I wanted it to, but it was a bit more like being a kid again. Glue stick, magazines, and colors. It was cool.

Using a magazine to collage isn't new. You might even say it's cliché. But there is a lot of downtime when I travel, lots of time in forgettable hotel rooms. It helps get through a plane ride when the guys two rows back have talked incessantly for the last two hours and consumed lots of garlic and alcohol.

Yes, I can hear them through my ear buds. 

And yes, I can smell them especially when they go up the aisle for nature's call. 

But I do love to journal on the road. Even when the flight attendants look at you like you have two heads.


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